Stop Doubting and Start Living

Stop doubting and start living your life. There….I said it.

This is the best advice I have ever been given in my life, but it is easier said than done, right? Like many people I find myself “waiting” to be happy. You know what I mean…..when I reach this goal I will be happy or when this thing happens I will be happy. Meanwhile, I doubt every single decision I make.

If you are like me, then we are both guilty of a fundamental flaw: wanting to enjoy the outcome, not the journey.

Doubt often makes us think that we must wait for the outcome of everything to be sure we deserve to be happy. Does this sound familiar?

Think about it: if we truly take this way of thinking all the way…..well, we won’t be happy until we are dead because that’s when the journey ends. Very dismal when you think about it that way, right?

News flash: We all deserve to be happy. Every single one of us.

But in this world of fast=-paced stress and responsibilities it is difficult to enjoy everyday life. In fact, it is almost impossible at times. So you are probably asking, “How am I supposed to enjoy this job that I hate?” or “How do I know that I am making the right decisions for my children? ”

I hear you loud and clear. Trust me. I do.

I know this will sound a little weird, but here is my personal list that has helped me.

Learn to Stop and Monitor

This is something meditation gurus will tell you all day long, but for some reason I have finally been able to incorporate it into my daily life. This simply means to stop and pay attention to how you are feeling. I take a deep breath and pay attention as I blow it out. I also take that moment to stand up straight and put my shoulders back. These actions do two things: relax my whole body and give me a boost of confidence.

By doing this I focus my attention on my internal self instead of the things going on around me. That is quite powerful.

In fact, it causes me to realize that even if I make a wrong decision things will still be alright.

And after years of stress and anxiety, I finally decided to stop making life harder than it really is. (I learned this by watching my husband who is disgustingly cool and unstressed about EVERYTHING.)

Get Real Rest

First of all, let me say I am not an advocate for taking sleeping aids. However, with that being said I have found that taking melatonin at night gives me an amazing night of rest and completely makes a difference in the whole next day.

If fact, I usually have less anxiety and stress all day (which is a feat for me) and this causes me to have a more positive outlook and not second guess everything I do.

Melatonin is actually a naturally occurring substance that we all have in our bodies, but some of us don’t make as much as we might need. This is where a good supplement can help. This is not habit forming and is often prescribed to help children sleep by pediatricians.

Check for Deficiencies

This often has to be done by trial and error. If you have particular mental or physical problems or issues, do some research on what might be the root of it all. For example, I have had neck problems for years along with migraines and other headaches. Because these were daily issues for me, it lead to anxiety because I felt so bad for so much of my life. But simply by discovering I had a magnesium deficiency I have been able to dramatically change my daily life.

Many deficiencies (such a magnesium) are difficult to diagnose because they are not detectable by a blood test. You might need to do extensive research to pinpoint a possible issue. I found that digging deep into forums brought the answer I was looking for. From there I simply tried a good supplement and increased magnesium rich foods in my diet.

Get a Pet

Have you ever heard that pet people are happy people? Well, it’s true.

Research has proved time and time again that having a furry friend helps relive stress and makes humans more relaxed. I think it has something to do with the unconditional love our pets give us (assuming you get THAT kind of pet) and their lack of demands on our lives. They are simply there to love and worship us. What’s not to love about that?

We recently got two dogs. We’ve had many other pets over the years, but dogs were off limits because one of our children happened to be very allergic to them. However, he eventually outgrew that allergy and now we could not imagine being without our furry family members.

I believe getting these dogs increased the quality of all our lives. There’s always someone waiting at the door who’s happy to see us when we come home. That would life anyone’s spirits. And I also think it helps humans to realize that big problems often aren’t as big as we think.

Decide the Worst That Can Happen

I think this one has saved my life countless time (figuratively speaking).

When I am worried and doubting the outcome of something I often sit down and think, “What’s the worst that can happen?” I will often discover that the worst case scenario isn’t nearly as bad as I have assumed it would be.

And usually I can’t change the outcome of a situation even if it was potentially bad, so why worry about something you can’t change anyway?

Conclusion

I have a friend who loves to say “suck it up, buttercup”. That is good advice if you can do it, but for the rest of us there are ways to move forward in life without doubt and despair.

I hope these recommendations will help you move forward in life with a positive and determined outlook. You deserve to stop doubting and start living, so why not begin today?

Fungi Nail Reviews

Unfortunately, I have become an expert at what does NOT work. Chances are, you may be an expert too. Until I had an encounter with this mean, hateful fungus I had no idea it was so difficult to get rid of!

So here’s what happened. Last year I was innocently sitting on the floor removing my toenail polish when I noticed something strange. The toenail on my big toe seemed to be loose from my toe. I was a little freaked out. When all the polish was removed I saw that my toenail was an odd white-looking color.

After some online research I discovered that it was probably a toenail fungus, and also that it most likely resulted from an injury I had sustained recently. Thus started my journey down the path of frustration.

I first purchased some Fungi Nail, which I used for twice a day for a few weeks. And an amazing thing happened. The bad part of the nail started to grow out. YAY!

But when it was ALMOST grown completely out…well, I had never had a fungus before, and I thought I was out of the woods. So I painted my toenails a gorgeous pink color.

About a week later I decided to change the color and found that the fungus had spread….big time. It was worse than when I first found it.

I then cut back the infected part of the nail as much as possible and started the Fungi Nail again. But this time it didn’t seem to work….at all. The fungus infection kept moving further back on my nail no matter what I did.

At this point I was desperate.

So I took myself down to the pharmacy and purchased some Vicks Vaporub Ointment. I had just read You: The Owner’s Manual by Dr. Oz, and he had recommended this as a great treatment for toenail fungus. (I also looked at some forums and saw that other people swore by it too.)

After a few weeks I realized that while this treatment might work for others, it did absolutely nothing for me.

Next, I went to the doctor and he prescribed a round of Lamisil, an oral treatment that can cause liver damage. I had to get blood work done half way through the treatment to make sure my liver was okay. This was nerve-racking for me. He offered another round of the oral medication when it didn’t work, but I had done my research and found that it was only effective a small percentage of the time. I didn’t want to take another chance on it.

Bleach was my next trial. I read on several forums that people had lots of success with it, and bleach kills everything, right?

Well, everything except my toenail fungus that is.

Finally, I did enough research to figure this out:

1. None of these treatments actually kill the fungus. They only keep it from spreading.2. If you EVER skip a single treatment, it will start to spread again.3. Each time you treat the fungus unsuccessfully, it gets more resistant to treatment. It gets harder and harder to overcome.4. Use new inexpensive clippers each time to cut the nail, then throw them away.

Now, a word about clipping.

In the end I went back to the Fungi Nail medication, which finally started to work again (when I applied all the information above). But the last piece of the puzzle was this: I finally noticed that every time the fungus started to grow again, I had JUST clipped off the bad part of the nail. That’s right. I don’t know if it’s true for every one, but in my case the fungus starts to spread every time I clip into it.

So now I am using Fungi Nail every morning and night after thoroughly washing with soap and water and drying completely. I also apply the Fungi Nail and allow it start soaking in before I put on socks. I have stopped clipping the nail and plan to wait until the bad part of the nail is far enough out to cut it all off at the same time.

It is grown about half way out so far, with no problems at all.

Update: It has a been almost a year since I wrote this original post and I must tell you the bad news. The fungus has spread to other toenails several time and I immediately got rid of it with little to no problem. (I usually just filed it off then treated it with Fungi Nail for a couple days to make sure it didn’t start looking weird again since these were all just surface areas except for one specific toenail.)

However, the original toenail STILL has the problem. I have found that filing the toenail away is about the only effective treatment available. I have read on countless forums where people have said the only thing that finally helped them was filing the bad nail away with a Dremel tool or a regular file. So that’s what I did. Then I did it again. Then again.

You see, it got rid of it on one side of my toenail, but it had spread to the other side and was right up against the skin of my toe. That made it near impossible to get all of the nail filed down properly. I thought I had it licked about three times, but then it starts to spread again when the nail is grown about halfway out. I am still using the Fungi Nail, which do think actually helps but it’s no cure. But then again, nothing is.

If anyone has any better ideas, I would LOVE to hear them!

Update #2: I have found another product that works better for me. This came about because I have battled toenail fungus about 90 % of the time since it first reared its ugly little head. I had read on several forums that once you have had a toenail fungus you will ALWAYS have a toenail fungus from time to time for the rest of your life.

I thought that would surely only happen to people who weren’t diligent about cleanliness, but was I ever wrong! So here is the new product: Dr. G’s Clear Nail Antifungal Treatment. I have switched to this product and actually used several bottles of this medication at this time, so I know it definitely works for me. With that being said, I still have to file any affected toenail down multiple times while applying this medication. And by that I mean file off as much of the nail as physically possible.

So there you have it. My plan that works for me. If you have other Fungi Nail Reviews, please feel free to leave them below.

If your experience has been different (or even the same), please leave feedback.

Update #3: (05/03/2017) All this time later and I am STILL battling toenail fungus! No one else in my family has ever had a problem with it so I know it is not lurking in my shower or on my bed sheets, but it still randomly shows up on a toenail. Even in the summer when I only wear open shoes. I will be free on it for a month or two, then it shows up and takes me a year to two years to get rid of it. Then one to two months free again. Then one to two years infected again. It is a vicious cycle. Filing the nail away only has limited results these days.

However, I recently read about this nail polish called Dr.’s Remedy on Amazon. I am always trolling the reviews there and constantly looking for ways to go greener and cut the bad stuff out of my life, so thought I would try this stuff.

Now, I have tried leaving polish off the infected nails for so long that I was tired of looking at them unpainted. That, along with reading a review about this polish that said an infected nail grew out while wearing it, made me decide the paint right over my infected nails when I went on vacation recently.

My plan was to only leave the polish on while I went on vacation for a week, then remove it when I got home. The polish is supposed to be anti-fungal and have lots of good stuff in it without harsh chemicals. So I thought it couldn’t do much damage.

But I got busy after vacation and didn’t remove it for almost 4 weeks.

When I finally got around to taking it off a couple nights ago, I must say I was scared to see what it would look like.

Toe # 1 was actually growing out healthy new toe nail! I couldn’t believe it! There was still some more that needed to grow out and be cut off, but nothing new had been infected back toward the nail bed.

Toe # 2 looked like it always did, but not any worse than when I left it unpainted and applied medication morning and night.

So I was no worse off and had pretty, painted nails for nearly a whole month!

So I filed, cut,and trimmed everything appropriately, applied new medication, and repainted all my toenails!

Waiting to see how it goes this time!!!

Update # 4 (8/8/2018): I truly hate to be updating this post with bad news AGAIN!

I have resorted to using yet another medication called Fungus Stop. I am also still using the Dr.’s Remedy nail polish while filing and cutting bad nail areas as much as possible. Maybe the next update will be better.

How To Be the Best Husband You Can Be

Every man wants to know to be the best husband you can be, but sometimes life just gets in the way.

For example:

You have had a stressful day. Your back aches, you have been in gridlock traffic for an hour, and your best client dumped you. You cannot wait to get home, read the paper and kick back in the recliner.

Then it happens. She meets you at the door and immediately starts giving you a rundown of her entire day – how she was late for work, where she ate lunch, how her hairdresser cut her hair too short. You are so exhausted that you completely ZONE OUT…..

You do not want to have this conversation, or any other conversation for that matter. You wish she would take the hint and stop bothering you with it for now. You start thinking about who you will invite over to watch the big game this weekend…..then it happens. The look on her face tells you that she is waiting for an answer to something. What did she just ask you? Should you ask her to repeat it? That sure did not go well that last time you tried it. Yep, you are in trouble. She knows you were not listening and there is no way out of it.

How NOT To Be In the Doghouse…..

Here is your best move. Admit the obvious – you were not listening – and ask for forgiveness. Try to do better the next time. She will respect your honesty and for taking responsibility for your actions.

You were probably expecting a different response, but let’s assess the situation.

When the day comes that she does not tell about her daily life, buddy, you are in some serious trouble.

It is her prerogative to include you in her life, even the little details. When the day arrives that she is not interested in telling you about her daily activities, she is not interested in YOU.

But here is the one thing about women that you might not realize: The number one thing they need from you is ATTENTION. And it naturally takes time to give that attention.

What you need is a plan. Set aside 10 minutes every day to talk, I mean REALLY talk. You need to decide if you need 10 minutes to unwind first or if you want to give her the first 10 minutes when you walk through the door. If you always give her the time, she will respect your need to unwind first.

This should not be a chore. Have a glass of sweet tea (I’m from the South) or coffee. Turn off the TV, cell phones, etc. and try to eliminate all distractions. After you have done this for a while you will find yourself looking forward to that time too.

This is a simple step that you improve your marriage no matter how good it is to begin with. Most all women want to be treated like a princess, and admit it – deep down men really want to be a hero. Both things can be accomplished here. Little moves to pamper her like this will leave her feeling like a princess and will definitely give you hero status with her. Try it for a month and see the changes for yourself.

For a more husband tips and a more comprehensive guide for husbands, please see the Free Husband Guide.

If your marriage is in trouble, get this step by step plan to be the best husband you can be and turn your marriage around immediately at The Magic of Making Up.

However, if you just want a few pointers to bring you closer, then please go to 50 Secrets of Blissful Relationships. This comprehensive resource will bring joy to your relationship and life.